Shiradi Ghat road to open on Aug 1

Mangaluru: The Shiradi Ghat road, connecting Mangaluru and Bengaluru on National Highway 48, would be reopened on August 1 after road widening and repair works, National Highway Authority of India sources said.

The 13 km Ghat stretch had been closed for traffic for the last six months for upgradation.

Various organisations had staged a massive protest rally in Sakleshpur yesterday after which NHAI made the announcement that the road would be thrown open to traffic on August 1.

NHAI engineer Raghavan said the work was delayed as it had to be stopped for 20 days in April due to heavy rains. The work was now going on in full swing.

NHAI Chief Engineer C Mruthyunjaya Swamy said it was not possible to open the road before the work was completed. The concretisation of 9.5 km had been completed, he said.

The traffic had been diverted via Charmadi Ghat since the repair works began on the Shiradi stretch, often causing blocks lasting for hours.

The traffic was blocked for around 10 hours on June 14 night in the narrow Charmadi stretch after the tyres of a KSRTC bus got stuck in a drain. Traffic could be resumed only at 9 am yesterday.